I have to tell you what happened while we were in St. Paul enjoying Thanksgiving, our grandson’s birthday, and our daughter and son-in-law’s anniversary, all between last Wednesday and this Sunday.
First, I asked a neighbor to take care of our crazed cat and watch over the place while we were gone. This guy is the world’s best neighbor and we count on each other when we travel. We help each out as needed, frequently chat in the yard and go out to lunch pretty often. We are really good friends, even though we disagree on quite a few issues, and that’s a relational model that’s more than a little needed today.
In St. Paul we stayed on the second level of the three flat. Our kid’s live on the first floor. The upstairs neighbor is to our kids what our next door neighbor is to us. She is like a member of the family, incredibly sweet and kind. She was staying with her sister who lives somewhere nearby and insisted we move into her apartment. Mind you the entire place was just professionally cleaned. The carpets were cleaned. The refrigerator was spotless and empty, ready for our use. Her iPad was setting on the desk ready for us to use. The channel guide sat on the coffee table with the remote. And yes, there really were mints on the pillows! It was like a very conveniently located hotel room that saved from either sleeping in the middle of the kid’s dining room floor on an air mattress or spending hundreds of dollars for a hotel several miles away. This level of kindness is a precious rarity in the real world that speaks so with so much more meaning than any words I could ever write.
While we were there, I received a letter via email from another neighbor who has been literally given a new lease on life after having a double lung transplant. He will be living in Florida for another year to be near the hospital where he received the transplant. He now has a reasonable life expectancy, is off of oxygen, is walking, and doing some jogging. His amazing letter was filled with enumerated blessings. This guy has kept a great attitude through all of the hard years, even though he had to retire early and could barely breathe.
On Thanksgiving Day, I received a call from our son who thought I would get a chuckle out of his tale of deep frying a turkey. We have had some interesting experiences as we have learned the art of deep frying over the years, but this one is the best. Their aged chow hound of a canine got too close to the open flame of the cooker and ever so briefly caught on fire. As my daughter-in-law shooed him away, he was enraged to have to back away from the lovely aroma of the giant deep fried poultry. The turkey was fine, but the dog caught on fire. That wasn’t another bit of kindness or gratitude, just funny, like stumbling on to The Red Green Show the other night.
No animals were actually harmed in making of this blog post or the deep frying of the turkey (with the exception of the turkey).
“Every selfless act of love is a profession of faith.” – Bob Goff
